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James Robert Cruz Jr. Long haul trucker known to have killed 1 but thought to have killed more.

" Investigators were unable to obtain any SOLID evidence linking Cruz to any of the murders, although, there is no doubt in any of their minds that Cruz was in fact the killer. After Cruz's arrest, the string of prostitute murders along the highways of Northeastern Ohio stopped just as abruptly as they had begun."

A Utah truck driver kept sex slaves in his semitrailer for months at a time while he traveled the country, filing down their teeth, forcing them to alter their appearance and beating them until they nearly passed out, authorities said. Timothy Jay Vafeades, 54, made an initial appearance Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Fargo, N.D., and will now be transferred to Utah for further proceedings...

An arrest warrant filed Tuesday in Salt Lake City claims Vafeades kidnapped a 19-year-old female relative who had come from Florida in May 2013 to work with him on his truck, the “Twilight Express.”

Vafeades met with the 19-year-old in Salt Lake City in May 2013 when she came from Florida to work with him. He allegedly sexually assaulted her as she slept on the first night she was with him, according to court documents. They left Utah the next day in Vafeades' truck, the "Twilight Express." When the girl tried to leave a week later, Vafeades began a pattern of abuse and intimidation, including beating or strangling his victim until she passed out and taking her driver's license, social security card and SIM card for her phone, charges state.

The girl was a relative who he'd hurt before. A lifetime protection was issued against him in 1999, presumably by the girl's parents. She must've needed money very badly, and he promised her she'd be safe with him. After he was arrested, a second woman went to the police with her story.

The woman told detectives she met the driver at a Salt Lake City truck stop in April 2012. She agreed to have dinner with him and got into his truck, according to the report, but Vafeades told her about 10 minutes into the ride that she was going with him for a week or more.The woman said Vafeades kept her with him for about three months through threats and violence, forcing her to have sex with him nearly every day and calling her his slave, authorities said. She said he had her hair cut and colored to disguise her identity and forced her to marry him.

"The FBI's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime launched in 2004 an initiative dubbed "The Highway Serial Killings," to identify and investigate murders committed along truck routes. The victims in those killings, said Special Agent Ann Todd, "are primarily women who live high-risk, transient lifestyles, often involving drug/alcohol abuse and prostitution."

Since the project was launched, FBI crime analysts have compiled information on 580 victims and 275 suspects in sexual assaults, kidnappings and homicides near highways, rest and truck stops, gas stations and restaurants off travel routes. Those victims included 19 from New York State."

The girl was a relative who he'd hurt before. A lifetime protection was issued against him in 1999, presumably by the girl's parents. She must've needed money very badly, and he promised her she'd be safe with him. After he was arrested, a second woman went to the police with her story.

On Thursday, Vafeades, 56, agreed to a plea deal just days before his trial was to begin.He pleaded guilty to the illegal sexual activity charges. The kidnapping charges were dropped in exchange.

The deal means Vafeades — referred to by local media as the “vampire” truck driver because of the fangs on false teeth he once wore — could face more than 20 years in prison.In May, he also pleaded guilty to transportation of child pornography, which carries a five-year sentence.